Attorneys for NASCAR driver Busch say ex-girlfriend lied

DOVER, Del. (AP) Attorneys for NASCAR driver Kurt Busch accused his ex-girlfriend of lying repeatedly on the witness stand during a court hearing in Delaware on her request for a no-contact order.

Patricia Driscoll, 37, said Busch assaulted her in his motorhome at Dover International Speedway last September, grabbing her by the throat and slamming her head into a wall three times. She says she still fears for her safety.

Busch has denied the allegations, saying he repeatedly told Driscoll to leave after she showed up uninvited and let herself into the motorhome. Busch testified that he finally cupped Driscoll's face in his hands and told her again to leave.

A Dover police detective testified that Busch reported that her head ''tapped the wall'' at that time.

Busch and his attorneys have tried to portray Driscoll as a scorned woman who wanted to destroy his career. The hearing also included Busch's remarkable testimony that he would not try to hurt Driscoll because he believes she is a trained assassin, a claim that Busch and other witnesses said Driscoll has repeatedly made.

Driscoll has said such assertions are ''ludicrous'' and based on a fictional movie script she has worked on.

In final written arguments this week, Busch's attorneys say Driscoll repeatedly lied in court.

''Though the bar for issuing a protective order is admittedly a low one, it should not be cleared on the wings of perjured testimony,'' they wrote. ''The testimony and evidence in this case clearly reveals a rejected lover's campaign to `take down' and `ruin' the man she had been with for four years, and only after he informed her their relationship was over.''

Driscoll's attorney, Carolyn McNeice, argued that Driscoll has proven that Busch abused her and has met the legal requirements for the granting of the no-contact order.

''Their closing is just another attempt to smear Ms. Driscoll,'' McNeice said in an email.

In her court filing, McNeice pointed to testimony from a neighbor who said she saw marks on Driscoll's face and neck when Driscoll returned to her Maryland home several hours after the alleged assault.

Busch's attorneys pointed to testimony from Nick Terry, a chaplain who ministers to NASCAR drivers and who saw Driscoll at the Dover track immediately after the alleged assault. Terry testified that he and his wife did not notice any marks on Driscoll. Terry also denied Driscoll's allegations that he had been threatened and offered bribes by Busch's attorneys.

''We respectfully request that the court not reward her perjury and scorched-earth approach of destruction by granting her a protective order,'' Busch's attorneys wrote. ''There is only one person in this duo that needs protection, and it is not Patricia Driscoll - it is Kurt Busch.''

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